AMMAN, Jordan — Seeking to end the latest round of violence between Israelis and Palestinians, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Saturday that Israel and Jordan had agreed to take steps toward defusing tensions at one of Jerusalem’s holiest sites, whose fate has been at the center of recent bloodshed.

Israel agreed to a suggestion made by King Abdullah II of Jordan that cameras be installed to provide 24-hour video access to the site, known as the Temple Mount to Jews and the Noble Sanctuary to Muslims, Mr. Kerry said. The Israelis and Jordanians will meet in coming days to work out the details, he said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel issued a statement on Saturday night affirming his country’s commitment to maintaining the status quo for worship at the site, without mentioning any specific new steps.

“Israel will continue to enforce its longstanding policy: Muslims pray on the Temple Mount; non-Muslims visit the Temple Mount,” he said. “As we have said many times, Israel has no intention to divide the Temple Mount, and we completely reject any attempt to suggest otherwise.”

Palestinians were not optimistic that the situation would calm soon, Mr. Kerry’s statements notwithstanding.

Responding to the news that cameras would be installed, Sheikh Abdul-Azim Salhab, the chief Islamic judge of East Jerusalem, said the walled Old City was already bristling with security cameras.

“Are they going to have more security cameras than the Old City?” he asked sarcastically. “They are there to spy on Jerusalem residents.”

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A Palestinian protester pushing a burning tire during clashes with Israeli troops in the West Bank city of Hebron on Friday.CreditMussa Issa Qawasma/Reuters

Mr. Salhab said he did not think that calm would return unless Israel ensured that Jews did not pray at the holy site. “We have no problem with visitors, but not those who want to pray, like the Jews who come three times a day,” he said. “They are not visitors.”

He added: “Without that, there will be no calm in Jerusalem. And nobody will be able to calm the situation.”

Nathan Thrall, a Jerusalem-based analyst for the International Crisis Group, said he did not think that cameras would make a difference in quelling the violence. He said the narrow focus on the holy site in some ways forestalled understanding the broader issues driving the current violence. “This is a phenomenon with many, many different causes,” Mr. Thrall said.

But Giora Eiland, a former Israeli national security adviser, said that even if cameras did not help, they could not hurt. “Israel says we didn’t make any changes, and we want to prove it, so being able to take pictures serves Israel,” he said. “The bottom line, if you ignore the emotions and propaganda: Both sides want the status quo to be preserved.”

One problem is that Mr. Netanyahu lacks credibility, said Yossi Alpher, an Israeli consultant and former military intelligence officer. “It’s understandable why Palestinians, other Arabs, other Muslims, believe Netanyahu is allowing a creeping status quo change on the Temple Mount,” Mr. Alpher said. “He doesn’t keep his word.”

Mr. Kerry was in Amman on Saturday to meet with King Abdullah and Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority. He met with Mr. Netanyahu Thursday in Berlin.

Mr. Kerry, in an appearance with the foreign minister of Jordan, Nasser Judeh, stressed that the work done over the past few days to find a way to calm tensions over the holy site was not an end in itself.

“We understand there are serious additional issues, security and otherwise, between Israelis and Palestinians that must be addressed,” Mr. Kerry said. “But we agreed that this is a first step.”

Mr. Judeh made the same point in his remarks, saying, “The root cause is the need to have a Palestinian state that lives side by side with a secure Israel.”

Matthew Rosenberg reported from Amman, and Diaa Hadid from Ramallah, West Bank.

A version of this article appears in print on , Section A, Page 10 of the New York edition with the headline: Kerry Signals an Agreement to Ease Jerusalem Tensions. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe